Barnoldswick book place in cup semi-final

Barnoldswick picked themselves up from defeat to Settle in the Ribblesdale Cricket League by booking their place in the semi-final of the Ramsbottom Cup with victory over Ribblesdale Wanderers.

In a close encounter at Victory Park the visitors made 199-9 as Thomas Strickland top scored with a knock of 59. After a slow start - which saw John Davidson and professional Imran Khalid brushed aside with 16 runs on the board - Settle started to gather momentum.

Asif Fazal (25) and Tabassum Aziz put on 47 for the third wicket with the latter hitting eight fours on his way to 40.

Strickland’s contribution saw the innings liven up as William Davidson (24) and Benjamin Hulse (16 not out) did their bit at the tail end of the order.

In reply, the hosts started brightly but failed to live up to that early promise. Abdul Saddique (37) and N. Ahmed (41) opened up with a 76-run stand while Sri Lankan professional Shashrika Pussegolla added 31 runs to proceedings.

At 106-2 Barnoldswick were seemingly cruising towards a second win of the season but at that point the runs dried up and the wickets began to tumble.

Mohammed Saffii (19) and John Hall (16) were the only other batsmen to manage double figures as they fell 18 runs short of their target after the allotted 45 overs.

However, the response was impressive as they went on to secure a four-wicket win at Church Meadow in the quarter-final of the cup.

Jonathan Beech was the star man as he dazzled the hosts with his bowling prowess. Beech took his best figures of the campaign with 6-32 from his eight over spell as Wanderers were restricted to 172.

The home side were helped out by David Howard (29), professional Ryan Canning (32), Martin Briggs (21) and Mick Clarkson who made 37 coming in at number eight.

Saddique and Pussegolla also got in on the act with the ball, taking two wickets apiece in the tie.

Again Barnoldswick started well but on this occasion they were able to maintain the pace to get over the line.

Saddique (33) and Pussegolla put on 52 for the opening wicket with the latter going on to partner another four team-mates in the attack on his way to 48.